Automobile drive up service points are provided by business and municipalities to make access to services more convenient for the driving public. Banking institutions have a long history of providing a drive up teller windows, and such service points have become very popular at other commercial venues such as fast food restaurants and pharmacies. Highway toll booths and automated banking machines, housed in kiosks, are additional examples of how drive up service points are well known in contemporary society.
Unfortunately, the automobiles which are used to access these drive up service points frequently leak or spill a variety of environmentally hazardous fluids at these locations during the brief time they are located there. These fluids include automobile fuel, lubricants, transmission fluids, and antifreeze, among others. These leaked or spilled fluids accumulate in the traffic lane at the drive up service points. Not only are these accumulations toxic to the environment, they present a safety hazard to pedestrian traffic and are unsightly. Additionally, these fluids have a deleterious effect on the traffic lane surface itself since they are known to attack the chemicals which bind asphalt together. When the surface integrity of asphalt is broken down in this way, rutting and pot holes begin to form and the pavement requires patching or replacement.
To protect themselves from injury liability, their property, and to maintain a pleasing appearance, owners of these facilities attempt to clean the traffic lane adjacent to the drive up service points by a variety of methods, including power washing the traffic lane surface and allowing the waste to flow into nearby storm sewers. These fluids can also migrate into water supplies as a result of storm runoff. However, these leaked or spilled automotive fluids are considered toxic wastes, and such disposals and runoffs are in violation of the Federal Clean Water Act, as well as various state and local laws.
A need exists to safely contain and store leaked or spilled automotive fluids which accumulate in the traffic lane adjacent to a drive up service point until the fluids can be safely and properly disposed of.
An innovative fluid collection container is provided which is thermally bonded to the surface of the traffic lane. The innovative container is a generally rectangular basin which is sized to be more narrow than an automobile""s track, or distance between the centers of parallel wheels, allowing the automobile to pass over the container without contacting it. The fluid collection container is low in profile, and formed of a thermoplastic material which is impervious to automotive fuels and lubricants, resistant to wear, and resistant to degradation by sun, rain, and road salt. Glass beads are embedded within the thermoplastic material to provide a surface which is skid resistant, a safety feature important for pedestrian traffic.
The fluid collection container is installed on the surface of the traffic lane adjacent to the drive up service point at the location at which the vast majority of leaked or spilled automotive fluids accumulate. This location is spaced apart from the service point in the direction normal to the service point so that it resides below the longitudinal centerline of the automobile. This location is also spaced apart from the service point so as to lie ahead of the service point relative to the direction of traffic flow. This placement allows the fluid collection container to reside below the front end of the automobile, approximately between the front wheels of the automobile, when the driver is accessing the service point.
The innovative fluid collection container is formed of multiple thermoplastic components which are assembled during installation on the traffic lane surface. These components include a base sheet which provides the bottom surface of the container, side walls, and end walls. The leading and trailing edges of the end walls may be tapered during installation to remove any abrupt discontinuities in the traffic lane surface. When employed, this feature allows the traffic lane to be cleared by snow plows without damage to the fluid collection container. In areas of especially high traffic volume, the depth of the fluid collection container may be increased to provide additional fluid storage volume.
In traffic lanes where the innovative fluid collection container is fixed to the pavement surface, the leaked or spilled automobile fluids fall directly into the container while the automobile is stopped adjacent to a drive up service point. The fluids are retained within the container without leakage until safely and responsibly removed in compliance with local laws and codes, thus protecting the environment from needless automotive pollution. Use of the fluid collection container prevents degradation of the traffic lane surface by preventing destructive interaction between the leaked or spilled automotive fluids and asphalt, prolonging the functional life of the traffic lane surface. Further, when employed at new construction drive-up service points, use of the fluid collection container allows a choice of using the less expensive asphalt as the lane surface material rather than the more costly but more durable cement, since the innovative fluid collection container greatly increases integrity and useful life span of the asphalt.
Although drive up service points are designed for access by automobile traffic, it is not unknown for pedestrians to use these facilities. Additionally, drive up service points must be monitored and maintained by service personnel who approach them on foot. The innovative fluid collection container is provided with features which improve skid resistance and prevent the pedestrian from becoming soiled in the event that he/she steps into the fluid collection container as they approach a drive up service point.
A method of installing the fluid collection container on a traffic lane surface adjacent to a drive up service point is described.